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Children’s
Services

The Children and Family Unit at Benson Psychological Services, PC consists of psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists and clinical counselors with several years of experience treating children, adolescents, adults, couples and families.

In addition to therapy services, our team provides culturally sensitive, trauma informed, functional, norm referenced evaluations that are collaborative with families, caregivers, teachers, pediatricians, and other professionals as appropriate. Our Child Psychologists have advanced training and specialized experience in the assessment and diagnoses of several behavioral health concerns.

Our Children's Services

Autism Evaluations and Follow Up

These evaluations include a thorough assessment of the child-focusing on; cognitive issues, social communication (verbal and non-verbal), speech and language (receptive and expressive language skills) using norm referenced measures, observations, and interview of the child. Additionally, collateral interviews with the child’s parents or caregivers focusing on relevant case history such as health and development, social/behavioral concerns, sensory and adaptive behavior, emotion regulation, family medical and mental health history and other relevant data. Collateral interviews with the child’s teacher and input from a full multidisciplinary team is sought out and included whenever possible.

ADHD Evaluations: On and Off Medication Trials

These evaluations include a thorough gathering of relevant background information from client and/or collateral sources on topics such as school/work performance general health, sleep and eating habits, family medical and mental health history, drug use, challenges/symptoms, strengths/skills, screening for related and comorbid conditions. Collateral information from parents, teachers, spouse or others will be utilized using interviews, norm referenced questionnaires and / or rating scales. They also include measures of sustained attention and variability using a continuous performance task and other norm referenced psychological testing as appropriate.

Executive Functioning Deficits

Executive Functioning Deficit is not a disorder. It is a word used to describe a condition associated with specific weaknesses in the brain’s self-management system, that impact learning and everyday life because of the effect they have on a set of mental skills that are critical to learning. Children who have trouble with executive function often struggle with working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control.

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Complex Trauma

Clinical Interview with the child and collateral interviews with parents or caregivers, as well as standardized assessment measures and behavioral observations to assess both exposure to, and the potential impact of, trauma across multiple domains of development.

Diagnostic Clarification

Our team can also help with complex diagnostic issues, such as where multiple co existing psychological disorders are suspected, when there are suspected psychological disorders secondary to medical conditions or substance abuse/dependence, or where other factors have made it difficult to provide an accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Psychodiagnostic testing enhances diagnostic accuracy by controlling for subjective opinion, biases and other factors. It uses highly reliable, norm referenced, standardized tests that have been validated in clinical trials.

In addition to diagnostic clarity, such evaluations can grade the severity of the impairment which can lead to using the pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment recommendations that have the highest likelihood of success.

Dr. Stone

Jamie

Joely

Randi